Covenanters Prison, Edinburgh 17th September 2010
Personal feedback by.
Mary Cunningham SP Co-founder/Investigator.

Investigators in attendance:

• Mary
• Jim
• Mark

Equipment used:

• 2 Sony Camcorders (one using tri-pod)
• 3 Digital Voice Recorders (Olympus)
• 1 Fugi Digital Camera (for location shots only)
• 1 Nikon Camera (for location shots only)
• Notebooks and pens.

The Black Mausoleum

The Covenanters were a powerful political force in Scotland in the 17th century, who signed a “National Covenant” in Greyfriars Kirkyard pledging to keep Scotland a Presbyterian country. However, 50 years later, they had been outlawed and had been heavily defeated by King Charles II’s forces. 1,200 of the Covenanters who survived the battle were imprisoned in the Covenanters Prison by Judge and Lord Advocate Sir George Mackenzie, known as Bluidy Mackenzie. Some of the Covenanters were executed by Mackenzie, their heads displayed around the prison walls. The rest were corralled in the yard and left without food or water, and hundreds died.

When Bluidy MacKensie died, he was buried in Greyfriars, not far from the Covanters Prison. His mausoleum was avoided, and carried a reputation of being haunted. One cold rainy night, a homeless man entered into the cemetery and was looking for a place to sleep. MacKensie’s tomb has a roof, and is very enclosed, but also has locked gates. Looking through the window in the gate, he could see something that looked like an entry in the back. He climbed over the fence, and found a way in. It was much more pleasant inside, but it was still cold. There is a grate in the floor of the mausoleum, and the man lifted it up to find stairs that went down. He descended into the bowels, and found large coffins. Hoping for a shroud or something similar for warmth, he started banging against the coffin trying to break it. When the 400-year-old corpse fell onto him, and he away screaming.
Source: http://www.eden-designs.com/travel/edinburgh/covenanter.php

We arrived at Greyfriars about 2:30pm and were greeted by Alison,Alison is one of the staff members who made arrangements for Scottish Paranormal to come to the Covenanters Prison for about 2 hours which was outwith their normal hours. Scottish Paranormal were privileged to be left to roam around the Covenanters Prison by ourselves with the kind permission of our guide who is another part of the staff who works there voluntarily. If we needed any facts about the history of the place or we needed to ask any other questions, Bill our tour guide was right there.

Since this investigation would last only two hours at the most and it was outside, we didn’t need a full set-up of our equipment. Digital cameras, Sony camcorders and two digital recorders were sufficient plus a notebook and pen for quickly jotting down anything should we experience something unusual. I personally didn’t experience anything unusual while performing my solo vigil. I did however hear a noise in the corner of the room to my right but with so much natural sounds around like dry wilted leaves being blown along the ground right outside and bagpipe music playing in the background, children`s voices being carried from a nearby school I thought no more about this, it could have been anything really.

Nothing had changed here since Scottish Paranormal`s last visit in 2007. With the history of the place it was still as interesting as ever it was.This time though we had more control of what we wanted to do here and we were also glad to have the place to ourselves for a change, not like back in 2007 when we were being followed around by the film crew for a “Tough Gig” TV show about the funny side of the paranormal with Arabella Weir.

Although this location was mostly outside, we did manage to find a spot to place two digital recorders… inside one of the small tombs with thick walls and an iron gate,this is the very place where in the past people have reported being attacked by some strange force which left them with scratches on their bodies, scratches that were not there before they went in. Myself,Jim and Mark arranged to each perform a solo vigil for about ten minutes. When it was my turn I had a few questions I really wanted to ask. I don`t hold up much hope for a definite reply. The digital recorders will get a thorough check for any strange audio that may be picked up.

I think the Covenanters Prison is fascinating and would recommend a visit here, if only for the history of it. I enjoyed my time here (pardon the pun) and would love to go back at a later time when it’s more peaceful and quiet.